


I Have Loved The Stars Too Fondly To Be Fearful Of The Night

by jjbittenbinder



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, it started angsty and then i made it fluffy bc im weak, uhhh bruce is a paranoid bitch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 08:29:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16615490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjbittenbinder/pseuds/jjbittenbinder
Summary: "Bruce didn’t trust Kory. Dick knew this.But this? This is a new level of absolute distrust, of not just worrying about but believing that someone close to you will betray you."Kory finds something in the Batcave that Dick would've preferred she not have.





	I Have Loved The Stars Too Fondly To Be Fearful Of The Night

 

 _“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”_ \- Sarah Williams

 

* * *

 

Bruce didn’t trust Kory. Dick knew this.

Dick was pretty sure Bruce could count the amount of people he trusted on one hand. He had spent a lifetime building walls all around himself until only a select few could get in and out. He was _Batman._ Trust wasn’t in his vocabulary. He was darkness, the night, and all those other things he said in that ominous tone of his.

But this? This is a new level of absolute distrust, of not just worrying about but _believing_ that someone close to you will betray you.

The look in Kory’s eyes when she held the shackles in one hand and a thick manilla folder in the other had nearly broken his heart. It was the distraught, hopeless look she got those few times when she opened up about her past: brutal training, enslavement, arranged marriage, experimentations. Getting her to open up to him was less like a flower softly blooming and more like a geode being split in two to reveal the crystals inside.

They were in the research room in the Batcave, a place that Dick had to fight tooth and nail to get Kory access to. And now, Dick was somewhat regretting that decision. She had gone to find a file on some villain they were tracking down, but came back with this one instead. Her hands were shaking when she said, in an oddly calm tone, “What is this?”  

Dick knew exactly what it was. Bruce kept a file on all threats, past, present, and future, in order to always have a plan of attack. But, god, Dick had no idea Bruce kept one on his _girlfriend_.

He wanted to tell her that it had nothing to do with her, but the evidence was damning. The folder was labeled “ **Koriand’r / Starfire** ”, written in Bruce’s neat handwriting, and contained not only photos of her but detailed outlines of her powers and weaknesses. Say what you will about Bruce, but he does his research.  

_Alien warrior princess from the planet Tamaran in the Vega system. An ally, but potentially extremely dangerous should she turn dark._

_Do not engage in direct hand-to-hand combat, only use weapons such as a sword, staff, or knife that give you the upper hand over her alien strength. She has the ability to fly and her flight is not inhibited by virtually anything except emotional damage, and she can reach speeds up to 800 mph while airborne._

_She releases pure bolts of energy from her eyes and hands that ignite flames as well as act as a great force upon their target, almost like lightning striking. These bolts can be stifled by restraints made of materials above a melting point of 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit, such as iron._

_Her powers of flight, strength, and energy bolts all rely heavily on emotion; use psychological warfare to hinder her abilities and gain the upper hand_

_Her older sister_ **_Komand’r / Blackfire_ ** _has malicious intent and is not an ally. She has the same set of abilities as her sister._

 _Conclusion: Keep under surveillance. Her romantic attachments to_ **_Nightwing_ ** _will most likely keep her on the side of good, but, should she turn, use the Gordanian restraints (located in sector C, room 16) and strong sedative, possibly employing the Citadelian shock collar (located in sector C, room 17) )if necessary. Extended one-on-one combat with no outside help will most likely result in a defeat. A possible future threat._

_Danger rating: 7_

There were photos of her in casual civilian clothing, one in her most recent uniform, a newspaper clipping from an article when she crash landed on earth. A photo of her with her eyes and hands lit with starbolts, her face twisted with rage, teeth bared. A photo of her and Dick, his arm around her shoulders, the two of them smiling brightly at the camera. A photo of her asleep on the couch, adorably twisted up in blankets, a photo that Dick knew he took, a photo he never shared with Bruce.

Dick looked up from the folder, up into her pearlescent green eyes, watery with tears that were already slipping down her face. He tried to reach for her, comfort her, softly saying, “Kory-”

But as soon as his hand lifted, she stepped back, clutching the shackles to her chest, her shoulders now shaking as well, “Tell me what this is right now.”

Dick dropped his hand, sighing, “It’s Bruce’s. He keeps a list of everyone that is or was a threat or who he thinks could be,” he shakes his head, “He wouldn’t let me tell you Kory, just know it’s nothing that you did. He’s paranoid, it’s just who he is. Besides, I had no idea he had a file on _you_.”

“Having a plan is one thing, but _this,_ ” Kory held up the shackles in shaking hands, “This has haunted me for the past five years. This isn’t a precaution, this is a _plan._ I-I…”

Dick stepped forward, taking her hands in his, setting the shackles and folder aside, “Kory, listen. No one is going to hurt you or take you away or lock you up, I would never let that happen, you know that.”

“But Bruce is...H-he’s your-” She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears to stop.

Dick wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head to his shoulder, “He’s who he is and I can’t change that. But I love you, Kory. I wouldn’t last a day without you.”

She leaned against him, clinging to the back of his shirt, and took a shuddering breath, “I can never go back to that life, Richard. Not ever again. I-I…” Trailing off, she buried her face in his shoulder, “I can’t”

“And you won’t,” He was firm in tone but soft in the way he ran his fingers through her hair, “I swear.”

Kory sobbed into his shirt, shaking like a leaf as Dick tried to calm her down.

A long moment settled between them and Kory pulled herself back, looking back over at the shackles, “Where did he even get those?”

The look on her face told Dick she was imagining the worst, but Dick cautiously explained, “They’re the ones you were held in when you crashed here. The police had them salvaged and locked up for safe keeping and...I guess Bruce got his hands on them.”

“But, I practically destroyed them. And now they look perfectly functional.”

“He probably fixed them as best as he could,” he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear,” Look, Kory, just because he kept them doesn’t mean he was planning on using them exclusively on you. Alien handcuffs would be pretty useful in some of the situations he finds himself in.”

Her nod was unsure, but she leaned against him again and sighed, “There’s one other thing.”

Dick waited for her to continue, resuming stroking her hair.

“The file said something about the Citadelian _dotrik’a._ He called it a shock collar, but that’s not really what it is. I wasn’t imprisoned in one of those when I arrived here. How did he get that?”

There really was no good explanation for that, and the weight of the silence was crushing. Dick looked up at the ceiling, then back down at her, “I don’t know.”  

 

* * *

 

The conversation, if you could call it that, that Dick had with Bruce over this was unsurprisingly brief. He told Bruce how fucked up it was that he was keeping tabs on his girlfriend as if she were a dangerous criminal and that he held onto the alien restraints just in case she went haywire. Bruce just looked at him with that slightly bored expression and told him some bullshit about being prepared and looks being deceiving and he was all but kicked out of his study.

Dick was used to that by now, the impassive figure Bruce turned himself into at times.

Kory, however, was not.

She had curled up in the bed they were sharing in the manor, surrounded by a large comforter, watching a hockey game, but the glazed look in her eye told Dick that she wasn’t really watching. Her hair framed her face and poured down her back and she sniffed occasionally, obviously still recovering from her crying from earlier.

Dick sat down next to her, rubbing her arm, “Hey.”

She didn’t respond, and Dick didn’t blame her. He just pulled the blanket in such a way that he could get underneath the covers with her, pulling her to his chest and wrapping her up in his arms.

The sports commentators were shouting when Kory said, “I’m sorry.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple, “There’s no reason to be, you did nothing wrong.”

“He doesn’t trust me.”

“He barely trusts _me_ , Kory. There’s nothing anyone can do about it.”

“I just…” she sighed, moving so she could look up at him, “I just wish he liked me, you know?”

“Babe, of course he likes you. He just doesn’t say so or do anything whatsoever to indicate that he does,” he kissed her forehead again, “He’s difficult.” 

Kory snorted, rolling her eyes, and Dick laughed, “I know, I know, understatement of the century,” the smile faded, “Just, trust me. If he didn’t like you, it would be a lot more obvious. Besides, what he thinks doesn’t matter. I like you a whole lot”

She nodded, a smile warming up her face, “Mmhmm.”

“I do!”

She laughed, hiding her face in his chest as he laughed too, the two of them pressed together completely. They cuddled up together, Kory relaxing considerably in his arms, and Dick pressed kisses into her hair, “ _A lot_ a lot. I like-like you.”

“I like-like you too.”

Dick grinned, kissing her hair again.

 

* * *

 

 

Bruce didn’t say anything when all the papers in her file were mysteriously misplaced and when the shackles and the “shock collar” were suddenly broken beyond repair. There was a fresh new sheet of paper in the file, stating simply these words:

_Warrior, ally, best friend, and soulmate._

**Author's Note:**

> An idea that wouldn’t leave me alone, another similar plot is coming up soon probably.  
> Reviews and kudos give me a boner in my heart <3


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